(SBL) — The Saipan Baseball League recently learned of a former San Vicente Canary, David Ada III, making waves across the baseball scene in the states.
Ada, who fell in love with baseball while watching games as a toddler at the Tan Ko Palacios baseball field, moved to Colorado with his family, but continued to pursue his love of the game. Ada has worked hard to distinguish himself from the thousands of ball players in the United States, playing travel baseball with the Majestic Baseball club out of Colorado traveling the country playing some of the top ball players in the nation.
Recently, Ada was named to the Team Colorado roster for the prestigious West Coast Games, hosted by the Prep Baseball Report. The games were on an invite only basis and showcased the nation’s top uncommitted seniors for college recruitment across the west coast. While the games were a senior class focused event, Ada was the only junior named to the roster. In the games, Team Colorado faced Team Arizona, Washington and Oregon. Despite Ada being the youngest player in the tournament, he led Team Colorado in hits and RBI’s, easily defeating Oregon and Washington.
The West Coast Games, which were highly attended by representatives of Division 1 college programs to include the University of Hawaii, University of New Mexico, Grand Canyon University in addition to 20 other programs, took note of Ada’s youth and hitting ability.
Ada, who has been a varsity player since his freshman year in high school, is currently in the college recruitment process.
“As a junior, David is just starting the recruitment process,” Coach Bradnon Stegman said. “NCAA rules have only recently allowed college programs to begin communicating with David; however there is tremendous interest in David playing for a variety of collegiate programs across the nation. David is highly ranked and is regarded as one of the top hitters in his graduating class, but he is also an outstanding fielder and one of our top pitchers. This kid just loves the game and is constantly working on his craft. We are starting to play him more at first base as most college coaches see him playing first when he gets to the next level, although I love him at third.”
Saipan Baseball League Board Member Herm Kintol recognized Ada’s talent and has been in talks to have Ada play for the CNMI in upcoming tournaments.
“We are happy to see David representing the CNMI as he makes waves in baseball,” Kintol said. “The amount of notoriety he is getting because of his talent is fantastic. To know that his love for the game and his earliest exposure started right here in Saipan is really great. The Saipan Baseball League knows that like David, we have a lot of talent within the Marianas and it’s just a matter of letting the baseball world know that our athletes can compete at the highest level.”
Saipan Baseball League Board President Jay Santos and Board Member Austin Hocog have been in talks with Coach Stegman to bring a variety of college programs to the CNMI for an Asia-Pacific showcase and scouting event.
“It is pretty standard in the mainland that amateur players attend various tournaments and showcases, like the Prep Baseball Report and Perfect Game, so that college and professional programs can get an idea of their skill set,” Santos said. “We are working towards bringing an event like this to the CNMI, which fits directly in line with the idea of sports tourism,” he added.
For his part, Coach Stegman has committed to bringing approximately five Junior College, Division 1 and Division 2 college coaches to the CNMI to evaluate and scout for talent across the Asia-Pacific region.
“I have already received commitments from multiple college coaches and recruiters to participate in the planned Asia-Pacific Baseball Showcase and Scouting Event,” Coach Stegman said.
“The focus is to evaluate and recruit athletes from this region into collegiate baseball programs. There is a tremendous amount of interest in recruiting out of the Asia-Pacific region and this event hopes to bring players from throughout the Asia-Pacific region to the CNMI.
“We are looking at marketing the event to baseball programs and amateur athletes in Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Australia and the Marianas.
“The event is anticipated to draw around 50-80 players, which is reasonable for an inaugural event. In the U.S. most of these types of events draw around 100-140 players on average and occur in the summer and fall. The draw for many of the athletes is the opportunity to perform in front of college coaches and options to play baseball at the next level,” Coach Stegman added.
